This paper presents the results of an analysis on Life Jacket (LJ) effectiveness in U.S. recreational boating between 2008 and 2011.
We use the US Coast Guard's Boating Accident Report Database (BARD) to fit a Poisson regression of number of fatalities on many
different factors interacting at the time of the accident. We find that LJ wear is one of the most influential determinant of the
number of fatalities on a vessel, together with the number of vessels involved, the type and engine of the vessel. We estimate that
the expected number of deceased per vessel would decrease by about 80% if the operator was always wearing his LJ. The number of
deceased is also estimated 1.86 times higher when the vessel is a canoe or a kayak, but 80% lower as one more vessel is involved,
and 34% lower when the operator has more than 100 hours of experience. Interestingly, we find LJ effectiveness decrease significantly
with the length of the boat and slightly with increases in water temperature; it increases slightly with the age of the operator. We
simulate the impact of a LJ regulation that would impose all operators to wear their LJ, corresponding to a minimum of 20% increase in
wear rate (to about 40%). Between 2008 and 2011, we estimate that such a policy would have saved between 1,721 and 1,889 (out of 3047)
boaters, i.e. 1,234 out of 2,185 drowning victims. A similar policy restricted to 16 to 30 feet length boats would have saved approximately
778 victims. Finally, an analysis of causes of death shows that a policy on LJ wear would reduce the share of drowning victims compared to
other causes.

The relationship linking skills that are job specific to turnover decisions has long been considered an important
issue in the economics of labor mobility. In this paper, we undertake a structural approach and extend the model
of Miller (1984) to account for occupational experience as an additional determinant of turnover decision. We
construct a dynamic index of individual decision regarding both jobs and occupational switches. More precisely,
the return to a particular job (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) depends on both a job match specific parameter and
an occupation specific parameter. This allows us to investigate whether the optimal individual decisions of
switching jobs changes when accounting for transferable experience of the occupation, which in turn implies that
the individual updates beliefs every time period. We use NLSY data to estimate the underlying structural parameters,
giving an estimate of the career profile of individuals according to their socioeconomic characteristics.